Shell and bomb



H. NEWTON SHELL AND BOMB Fina Sept. 1, 1921 HENRY NEWTON, F DARLEY, NEAR DERBY, ENGLAND.

SHELL AND BOMB.

Application filed September 1, 1921, Serial No. 497,511.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY NEWTON, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at Mile Ash House, Darley, near Derby, in the county of Derby, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shells and Bombs (for which application has been made for Letters Patent and Letters Patent granted in Great Britain No. 17,871 of 1915, filed December 22nd, 1915), of which the following is a specification.

. This invention relates to the manufacture of shells, bombs and other projectiles.

Such devices, whether cast or pressed, usually require to be fitted or provided with one or more parts thatare to be accurately formed and positioned necessitating aconsiderable expenditure of time and money in machining to gauge and like operations.

and positioned separately,

It is the object of my invention to devise improvements in the manufacture of such devices which will enable the same to be rapidly and accurately turned out and at a I much less cost than hitherto so that there within such parts according as they are 5 body.

located internally or externally of the shell ,The invention also consists in the forms of projectil'e hereinafter described;

mortar.

/ way of example,

The accompanying drawings illustrate, by two forms of projectiles constructed in accordance with my invention. Figurevl is a sectional elevation of a shell adapted for use, for example, with a trench Figure 2 is an underneath plan 'of Fig- ,ure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on the line AB of Figure 1. I

Figure4 is a fragmentary view illustrating on a somewhat larger scale the lower end of the shell shown in Figure 1.

Figures 5 and 6 are respectively an elevation andLa plan of a detail shown in Figure 4.

Figure 7 is 'a similar view to Figure 1 illustrating a slightly modified form of projectile in accordance with the invention.

In carrying my invention into effect as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6, I arrange in a chill or sand or other mould, (not shown), a ring a of accurate dimensions to accurately define the position of the shell to the mortar, a pressed or otherwise suitably formed ring 6 of suitable material and also accurately formed, an internally threaded tube or plug 0 to take the fuse, and tail fins or plates d, all these parts being accurately positioned in recesses or otherwise in the mould in relation to the shell body 6 which is then cast round or within the parts without disturbing their positions.

The tail fins, which may be of tinned sheet iron, tin-plate or other convenient material, may be arranged to be secured in position in any suitable manner, one convenient arrangement being illustrated in Figures 1 and 3, from which 1t will be seen that the fins have holes f punched or otherwise formed therein through which the metal of the shell body flows.

The space 9 between the tail fins may be filled with the propellant charge which may comprise gun-cotton yarn, and in proximity thereto I fit a cart-ridge or cap h filled or-not, as desired, with a suitable powder or other charge ditional propellant, or four compartments may be formed for the propellant by passing wire or wires or the like through the apertures p formed near the edge of each fin and the propellant may be housed within such compartments. The cartridge h is exploded by a striker pin 11 carried by a pressed metal cap 70 held in position by springytongues Z which are depressed as they pass the slotm in the fin and then, on continued rotation of the cap, spring up again and lock the cap inposition.

Figure 7 is a view of a modified form of shell or mortar bomb adapted to be propelled by a cartridge in which any usual type of cartridge container at, preferably made as light as possible and formed from annealed incorporated during theoperation of casting or pressing the projectile, tion the head is provided with lugs 0 over which a pressed metal striker cap (not shown) is adapted to be mounted in such a manner as to be thereby held in position.

It will be clear that my invention may be to ignite the propellant or with ad- 1 and in addibrass tubing or other suitable material, is v I 35 the body applied with equal effect and like advantage to the fittin of the projectiles with driving bands or ot er bearing surfaces, gas-checks or other accessory parts for projectiles in- 5 tended either for smooth bore or rifled ordnance, and is not-to be confined to the examples referred to above, and I may also vary the method of holding the same in position during the operation of manufacture in any manner that may be found most convenient;

In the case of cast-iron stick bombs, in order to provide surfaces of suitable metal which may rub on the mortar walls, drivingbands and gas-checks, such as cop er rings of round or oblong or any desirab e section and even tinned sheet-iron rings, may be cast into the cast-iron tube or stick at intervals along its length, being thus embedded and 2 placed accurately as required.

It will thus be understood that the expenditure of time and the labour of making an exact and true-fitting adaptation of such parts to the body of the bomb or shell is en- 5 tirely obviated, it being sufiicient that the parts in uestion shall be properly constructed for t eir own particular functions, for exam 1c, the driving bands must be a smooth and c ose fit to the barrel, and the fuse-tube and contained parts must be properly constructed for their own special duties. The positioning of the parts in roper relation to the axis of the projectile 1s entirely provided for by incorporating these arts with of the shell or bomb in t e process of casting or pressing the latter as above described. Advantages accrue also due to the fact that cast iron shells during the proces of cooling in chills become of close tex- 0 ture and as a result maximum missile value is secured, as the shell is not disintegrated in dust, and a maximum' amount of energy is stored in each missile due to the extra strengiit of the cast iron so treated.

A her advantage of projectiles formed in accordance with my invention is that the construction adopted ensures the projectile always falling nose downwards so that a cheapmand eflicient form of percussion fuse may employed.

Having now described 'my invention, what I clalm as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A method of manufacturing shells,

bombs, and other projectiles which consists in form1ng tail fins of sheet metal," accurately locating said fins in a mould, and casting aniron body upon said fins.

2. A method of manufacturing shells, bombs, and other pro'ectiles which consists in formm tail fins 0 sheet metal with perforations n their ed accurately locating said fins 1n amoul and an iron 4 body upon said fins and in their perforations.

3. As an article of manufacture a projectile composed of a cast iron body with sheet metal tail fins secured in said body by the casting operation.

4. A method of manufacturing shells, bombs, and other projectiles consisting in separately forming and accurately locating in a mould a plurality of rings adapted to fit, and accurately to position the projectile in, the bore of a piece of ordnance and out upon said rings.

5. A projectile comprising a cast iron body, recessed sheet metal tail fins secured therein, driving bands secured therein, a propellant charge and means for detonating the same secured in the recess in said tail fins.

6. A projectile comprising a cast iron body, tail fins secured therein set at an angle, and means for retaining a propellant charge in the space between said fins.

'7. A projectlle comprising a cast metal bod sheet metal tail fins attached thereto adapted to receive a propellant charge and a detonator, and a striker cap retained in said fins in position to engage the detonator.

8. A projectile comprising a cast iron body, sheet metal tail fins fixed thereto and having a recess formed between their adjacent edges, :1. detonator secured in said recess and positioned by the fins, and a striker cap also secured in and positioned 'by said fins in co-operative relation with the detonator.

9. In a projectile for a trench mortar the .combination with the shell of detonating means for a propellant charge carried by the shell, and a striker adapted to set ofl said detonating means secured upon said shell in operative relation to said detonating means.

10. In a projectile for a trench mortar the combination with the shell of a propellant charge carried thereby, a detonator also carried by the shell in proximity to mg the body of the projectile within and v said charge, and a striker secured upon said "shell in operative relation with said detonator.

11 In a projectile for a trench mortar the combination with the shell, of a detonator,

and a pressed metal striker having resilient edges ositioning said striker with respect to said detonator.

12. A projectile comprising a body, tail fins secured therein set at an angle, and means for retaining a propellant charge between said fins.

13. A rojectile comprising a cast iron body, and perforated sheet metal tail fins secured in said body by the casting operation, the cast metal penetrating into the perforations.

" 14. A projectile comprising a body, tail fins attached to said body at an angle to each other and having acut-awa and re- 'cessed portion at the end of their line of intersection, and a striker adapted to spring into said recessed portion.

15. In a projectile the combination with a cartridge having a percussion cap secured therein of a separable striker engaging with said cartridge to position the striker relatively thereto, and a striker. pin which stands in operative relation to said cap when the striker ispositioned uponthe cartridge.

16. In a projectile the combination with a cartridge having a percussion cap secured therein of a separable stamped metal striker comprising an annular part surrounding the rim of said cartridge and a striker pin having the same location relative to said annular portion that the percussion cap rim.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification. I

HENRY NEWTON.

has relatlve to the cartridge 20 

